Cheetahs ease Goosen back in against the Bulls

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has retained the starting team that beat the Stormers in Bloemfontein last week for this week's Super Rugby match against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.

The Cheetahs beat the Stormers 35-22 and Drotske's only change to the match day 23 is the return of Johan Goosen in place of Riaan Smit on the replacements bench.

Adriaan Strauss will as usual lead the Cheetahs on to the field at Loftus
Versfeld in Pretoria. This Saturday will however be different. Not only will
he be running front of the team because he is the captain, but also because
it is his 100th SupeRugby match.

He will also be running onto the same field where he played his very first
SupeRugby match on the 17th of March 2006 in his debut for the Bulls against
the Hurricanes.

Strauss&#8217;s rugby dreams started when he was a small boy in the Philippolis
district and it later become more of a reality during his primary- and secondary
school days at Grey College in Bloemfontein.

His leadership abilities became visible here as under captain and hostel captain.

He already had a taste of first team rugby in his grade 11 year and in his
matric year he represented not only Grey College&#8217;s first team but also
the Free State- and SA Schools teams.

After school Adriaan studied Financial Mathematics at the University of Pretoria
from where his rugby career started with the Blue Bulls. During his time in
Pretoria he played Currie Cup and SupeRugby for the Bulls but returned
to Bloemfontein in 2007.

Only a year later, on the 19th of July 2008, at the age of 22, Adriaan got
the opportunity to wear the Green Gold when he made his Springbok debut as reserve
hooker against Australia in Perth. He became Springbok no. 800.

With tight competition on hooker, Adriaan only played in nine test matches
(8 as reserve) during the following four years.

This waiting period only made him more content to play more test rugby and
today, with 33 tests behind his name, he played as vice-captain of the Springboks
and has become one of the most well-known rugby players in South Africa. Adriaan
was awarded the South African Super Rugby Player of the Year award for 2013.

Adriaan Strauss led the Cheetahs in more than 50 SupeRugby matches and is among
few players who have played more than 100 SupeRugby matches.

Free State Rugby is truly proud of this special player and congratulates him
on this exceptional milestone. His work behind the scenes to make a success
of Cheetah Rugby is invaluable.